Not yet Uhuru for construction

The construction sector is yet to realise its potential, despite Nigeria’s huge infrastructure deficit. Over the last three decades, according to a research by Vetiva, crop production, crude oil production, wholesale and retail have recorded a 27-year Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 28 per cent, 29 per cent and 26 per cent, while the sector’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at CAGR of 21 per cent during the same period. It is, therefore, evident that Nigeria is far behind in the construction sector. Below are the developments that have taken place in the past three months, writes OKWY IROEGBU-CHIKEZIE.

The Federal Government has made good its promise of building a second Niger Bridge linking Asaba, Delta State capital, with the Southeast and Southsouth. It has mobilised the contractor with N100 million, which according to the Minister of Works, Mr Mike Onolememen, is for ‘procurement’.

The ministry has also reconstructed the ‘Bridge Head’ in Onitsha, the Anambra State commercial hub. But, the drains, unfortunately, are filled with sand and refuse which, if not cleared before the rains start, will exacerbate flooding in the state, according to scientific predictions.

Last week, road contracts worth N47.8 billion were awarded by the Federal Government for 13 roads across the country.

The minister said though the contracts were awarded at the end of last year, the contractors were only mobilised to site last January. Some of the roads are in Cross River, Benue, Imo, Abia and Ebonyi states. The Port Harcourt/Enugu Road has become an albatross for the government as the patch-up work executed by the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) at some portions have not offered succour to those who ply the highway. Users of the road are clamouring for its total overhaul and reconstruction.

After the cancellation of the concession agreement on Lagos/Ibadan Expressway last year, observers had expected that the contract would have been awarded to a competent contractor. But, to their dismay, nothing has been done to allay the fears of the public on the fate of road users in the first quarter.

The East/West Road in the Niger Delta is also not free from controversy.Allegations of insufficient funding and sacking of incompetent contractors delayed its unveiling in the first quarter. It is hoped that those in charge would do the needful and deliver the project on schedule.

The restiveness in the northern part of the country has equally delayed projects or made contractors to abandon them as they are abducted and killed indiscriminately by the ‘terrorist’gangs.

Observers said except the activities of terrorists are curtailed, roads in the zone may be worse for it.

The rumoured near collapse of the third Mainland Bridge was also dispelled as the Federal Government dispatched bridge experts to investigate the alleged tremor on the bridge, which was given a clean bill of health.

Housing

Nigeria with a population of over 160 million, advertising the construction of 8,069 houses with 58,632 persons as beneficiaries and the supposed 1,703 projects on ongoing, is not only ridiculous but alsoa far cry from national demand. One of the key achievements of the ministry recently, is the review and approval of new housing policy and the drive to deliver housing through public-private partnership (PPP).

On the heels of this, the ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development is partnering with the private sector to seek alternative housing models, such as dry housing construction models and form technology, which has the capacity to produce high number of units in the shortest possible time. The minister said her ministry is working tirelessly to create an enabling environment for developers to operate by asking state government to built infrastructure that will aid the private sector to operate.

To underscore the seriousness of the government, the Land, Housing and Urban Development Minister, Ama Pepple, in Abuja vowed not to inaugurate any estate project with less than 500 housing units. She said it was necessary if meaningful contributions towards reducing the nation’s huge housing deficit are to be achieved.

Similarly, Pepple restated her commitment to the provision of low-cost housing for the teeming populace. To accomplish this, she said she had started discussions with state governments to make land available for the construction of low-cost housing units across the states of the federation.

“The challenge of providing affordable houses to our teeming population has continued to engage the attention of this administration. We have re-energised and re-focused, but we do have challenges relating to cost of land, cost of building materials and the cost of interest on mortgages that make it difficult for houses to be cheaper than what they are today,” she said.

But stakeholders are of the opinion that with all the challenges enumerated by the minister in the housing sector it may yet be a while before appreciable success can be recorded in the sector.

However, a fortnight ago, the Federal Government approved N1 billion for the upgrading of slums in Kano, Lagos, Rivers, Kogi and Abia states to improve the quality of housing and living standards of the majority of the people in the country.

She revealed that the ministry is running a housing census with a firm with a view to having an accurate data on the nation’s housing deficit and regretted that the government does not have a reliable data to ascertain the actual gap in the housing stock of the nation.

Environment

Nigerians are still waiting for carefully thought out national environment policies especially action plan on climate change. Officials from the ministry have attended international conferences on environment and the public are waiting anxiously to see the implementation of negotiations from such world foras.

Some schools of thought believe the Federal Ministry of Environment may just exist in name with nothing to show for it. Their impacts were only felt in press clips during the massive flooding of some states. Conversely, Lagos State has held international conferences on climate change where experts presented papers with the fifth in the series held last month.

The state went to the extent of forming climate change clubs in secondary schools and spreading its good news of climate change mitigating tactics amongst all strata of the citizenry. It also formed advocacy groups to reach target audience, such as traders, artisans and others which is not the same at the federal level.

Water/sanitation

The government has done very little in this sector as the majority of the urban dwellers depend on boreholes as a major source of water supply while the rural dwellers depend largely on streams and non-safe water sources for their domestic use.

This lack-lustre attitude of the Federal Government was evident when the Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe, at an event in Plateau State assured participants that the challenges facing the water sector in the country would be over by 2025 without giving the basis for such assumption.

The inadequacy or lack of safe water and improved sanitation services in the country is manifested in the prevalence of water and sanitation related disease such as diarrhea, which results from poor sanitary/hygiene habits and consumption of water of poor quality.

It is the second major cause of infant mortality after malaria and the third major cause of under-five mortality.

The prevalence of diarrhea is higher in the rural setting than urban areas and in the northern zones than the south. Reports say an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 diarrhea-related deaths occur among children below five each year.

One major problem in this sector is the wide disparity between the demand for water and sanitation.

Knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) studies reveal a wide disparity in the priority ranking of water supply and sanitation by communities where water is considered the topmost priority of most communities and pit latrines (as an indicator for sanitation demand) is viewed as the least problem.